Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Tomb Raider 30-day Challenge Day 7: What are your thoughts on the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot?

UPDATE: This month-long challenge has officially finished, but you're still welcome to post your comments below at any time. We'd love to hear what you think.

Whenever a familiar and beloved series takes a new turn, there's always the risk of alienating the original fan base. Crystal Dynamics continues to stress that they're trying to maintain that Tomb Raider "feel" while making the characters and situations "relevant" to today's gamers. So how are they doing?

The latest Lara Croft from the upcoming 2012 TOMB RAIDER. Visit my main site for more info about the game.

21 comments:

I think change is always refreshing. The past three games (Legend, Anniversary and Underworld) were gameplay-similar so it's the most obvious thing to change that in the upcoming game. I think this change will be very good since we're not changing the character, people must remind that the Lara we know so well didn't change. She just evolved from a more emotional Lara that is being depicted from this game. People must remeber that, we're not changing the character, we're just showing the background, the origins. About the "feel", we've seen that CD already accomplished in changing the core of the game and maintaining the feel: look at Guardian of Light, you had puzzles, platforming and shooting, and it felt Tomb Raider all the way. This one will feel also, but with differences that will define the game: the emotion, the survival aspect. It's not the game that is being radically changed, it's just the important details to widen the fan-base. I think old-school fans will love the game, and it will atract new fans.

I've written so much (probably too much) about this elsewhere so I'll keep it brief. I find it pointless and somewhat disrespectful to rewrite Lara's biography. I don't recognise the new Lara as Lara Croft in the Core sense of the character, and I detect a faint whiff of continuing bowdlerisation, part of an on-going instinct to trash the legacy. As for the gameplay it doesn't seem much like a Tomb Raider game to me, although obviously I'd need to play to say for sure. However the continuing obsession with "reality" augurs badly for the quality and duration of the gameplay in my opinion. I'll stick to other survival horror titles.

The game looks stunning, the plot is pretty much a total alienation. Unless they produce sequels that act like a prequel to TR1 and onwards, it's a totally different story, different feel and different game..

I love Lara. We all do. Who would like to see the series decay and lose interested? Happened one time. Personally I really like Angel of Darkness but let's face it the general opinion was different and I can't blame them. Now one of the first thing Crystal Dynamics stated about the new game was that the last thing the team wanted is to bring the series to a dead end. They added that they had a few more thing to give to the Lara we are used to. The trailer and gameplay demo won me. I can't wait to download the demo next year, not to mention getting the full game. I am very excited :)

I also understand that many people out there are more into huge boobs, nude mods and sexy poses than the game itself. It's ok. Just spare us your bad critics about the "new" Lara. She is "really" sexy after all.

I personally think all the guys working on the game is pretty true to their word on the maintaining of the original feel,but I personally feel that this reboot is exactly what we need ''NEW'' So I look forward to some new action while they stay true to our heroin Lara!

I think that because it is still being made by Eidos (Now Square Enix) and Crystal Dynamics, i think it is going to be good and true :D If it was passed to another company i think it would be no where near as good :/ The E3 footage and trailer has really impressed me and I'm really looking forward to it :') <3

I really enjoy the idea, but I hate that they have to wipe out her entire past. I really enjoyed 1-6. I liked them better than the newer ones. Much more difficult. Although I would rather see an Angel of Darkness remake, I will enjoy playing this one. It's Tomb Raider!

I'm...interested to see what's done with the reboot. I would have preferred that Lara's biography remained untouched, but even between Core and CD, it was tweaked a little bit. I think we've all just sort of dealt with those tweaks. But this, being a major overhaul, could really polarize the current fan base.

I'm trying to keep an open mind about it. The graphics look incredible, what I've heard/seen of the plot has a lot of potential, and the prospect of tackling another huge event that shaped Lara into who she is a hook for me. I'll play, and more than likely, I'll like it. Unless it turns out to be something completely out of left field. It would just be nice to see it tie in to what's already been established in terms of her past (and present, for that matter) somehow.

And I agree with Matt - an AoD remake/continuation at some point would be fantastic! (But I'm not holding my breath.)

The main thing that has always appealed to me about the Tomb Raider games is the ability to lose myself in another world for a while. To be able to look around realistically, move realistically, and explore freely are the things I like best about the games. So as long as those qualities remain, I'm sure I'll like the reboot.

Reboots are such a cop out and are done to death these days. They don't always solve the problem or give a dying franchise more "ommph". There are ways around reinventing a franchise without rebooting. Reboots are nothing but a step back. I admit Batman Begins was great, but good reboots are few and far between. Mario hasn't really had a reboot and its outlived Lara but still evolved in some ways.

As a Tomb Raider fan, I am so excited that Lara Croft has become a large part of Pop Culture. The way I have had to look at reboots and reimagining movies, TV shows, and now my favorite video game, is from the point of view of a storyteller. For example, how many times has the King Arthur legend been told? And how many ways? And we all have our favorite.

To me, this is just proof that the Lara Croft story is passing into legend as well. As with the King Arthur story, there are major points that we all agree on, but how they happened can be creatively mixed around.

As long as they don't destroy her essence, the thing that we all love about her, I'm okay with new versions of her story, even if they conflict.

We will have to see... They could have stayed true to the original TR history, I think, w/o any problems, and maybe they should have. That said, we will have to see. I like what I see so far, but hope this isn't a pure drama trip.... The trailers are already pretty gut wrenching, lol! Good adventure, graphics, and game play w/o being overly emo, I hope.

Time for my spiel. I'll be honest in saying that I'm bugged the franchise will have two reboots on file. I'm OCD like that. If one biography could have been stuck to, that would have been awesome, but unfortunately, I feel that I have to understand that Crystal is right. Lara has become irrelevant to the modern gamer. People are looking for a lot more realism in franchises like Tomb Raider. What we loved about the classics - or I, anyways - was good enough for the time period, but since the gaming industry has evolved, people's interest have as well. So unfortunately, Lara's past is a bit muddled, and it will be hard for me to look at this new game and see it as a stand-alone adventure, knowing where the franchise has come from, but in respect to those who are trying to keep Lara alive, I have to try. ;)

So as far as the concept of the reboot, I'm all for it. It looks like Lara's biography has been changed, but it's just like a Batman and Spiderman. How many reboots have they had now? LOL

As for the game itself, it looks beautiful. The level of detail is great, and to the developers, it probably didn't even look complete yet. When they're done polishing the game, it will - graphically speaking - look way better, I'm sure. The only technical detail I didn't like was Lara's hair. It looked really stiff and stuck together, and at the end of the gameplay demo, it was still all stiff when blowing in the wind. It'd be nice to see a little more detail on the back of the head I'll be spending next Fall with. ;)

I'm sold on the story. An origins story will make for an emotional experience. Honestly, some games have moments where I feel strong emotion. I've even cried, I will admit. (I see that is a later question... ;) Gears of War 3 actually did this to me recently. I didn't cry, but I had goosebumps and shivers and at some point I did fog up, and at others I was ticked at the in-game characters. Long story short, this should be a good story.

I'm also a big LOST fan, so the obvious resemblances to LOST are like heaven for me. I swear Crystal Dynamics developers have my file next to their plans for the game. :D

In all, I'm ready now. I'm ready for a sequel. I'm ready to go into full-fledged, TR-nerdy mode for this reboot. Who all wants to buy a collector's edition?!

I really like the way the new character looks, but I don't think of her as the same Lara Croft. I've just spent so many years with the tank top/shorts/boots-wearing, hardened Lara that I'm having a hard time accepting a young, delicate version of her. I also feel like the gameplay will be so intense at times, that it could become too overwhelming and stressful. I like a challenge, but it's obviously not going to be the same types of challenges that we're all so used to. When I'm playing a game, I don't like to think "I just can't wait until I finally get through this part" while I'm playing a level (the only time I've ever felt like that during a TR game was during the Lost City of Tinnos UGH). I want to enjoy it.

However, the game looks like it will be beautiful and a good adventure overall.

Unsure, the story sounds interesting but I don't like that they've re-written Lara, I'll just have to wait and see :) I was annoyed when I found out that they'd re-written Star Trek essentially but after I watched that film I loved it, so yeah :p

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